


Supportive Granddads United

by LannisPuff



Series: Sharing Pain Soulmate AUs [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante Lives, Garp is a good grandpa, Gen, Lawlu are soulmates, One Piece has to many dead parents so we're saving one, Sengoku too, but they're children so this contains no romantic relationship, some angst and some crack, with deus ex soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-02-14 00:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12995967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LannisPuff/pseuds/LannisPuff
Summary: Garp the Fist, hero of the marines and doting grandfather. One of those two was less known to the world, but certainly a defining trait for those who knew him. So when his precious grandson is suffering from his soulmates unknown illness, Garp is not going to sit idle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't know what this is. I just didn't want Rosinante to die, and I've had way to many grandfather feels lately so this happened. I don't even know if its angst or crack or fluff, but it's something and I hope you enjoy!  
> It's finished and I'll post the next two chapters in the coming days.  
> Also, I forgot to mention, this is not actually related to Your Pain on My Skin, it's kind of and AU of my own AU? So it can be read on it's own, I'm just using the same principle for soulmates.

Garp the Fist, hero of the marines and doting grandfather, had just come back from a visit to East Blue and he was on a mission. His precious grandson, the little ray of sun that was Luffy, was very ill. He’d been ill for some time, but it had started so slowly that no one had noticed at first, but now it was impossible to ignore. His caretakers in Foosha village had almost gone into a full-on panic when they realized that they had no idea what it was, but the realization that the illness came from the boy’s soulmate had calmed them somewhat. They still contacted Garp, because the old man was more well-traveled than almost anyone in East Blue, and definitely on Dawn Island, but even the old marine couldn’t figure out what the white patches were. So now he was back at the marine headquarters to research what Luffy’s soulmate might be suffering from, and if they could expect a recovery. Garp knew firsthand the comfort a soulmate could bring, the relief of pain disappearing at the slightest touch, but he also knew the pain of loosing that person, to live with the marks that killed them and be able to do nothing about it. He never wanted Luffy to experience that, especially so young and without a chance to even know them. This unknown disease had him really worried, because he might not have any idea about who they were, but as Luffy’s soulmate they would most probably become a part of the family. Even if they for some reason ended up hating each other, the pain they suffered would always be shared.

 

Garp didn’t want to announce the existence of his grandson to the marines, he was Dragon’s son after all and his stupid son just kept on getting in trouble, so Garp went through medical books on his own instead of asking for help from any of the doctors who might report to the World Government. It was hard, and he couldn’t find anything with symptoms like the white patches Luffy had in any of the books on common illnesses in any of the four Blues or the Grand Line. After several days he was really in need of a break, so he went to Sengoku to complain. The man might be Fleet Admiral, but he was also Garp’s oldest friend and he knew about both of Garp’s grandchildren, which made him a prime subject to either gush or complain to. Sengoku even had an own son to talk about, even if he was currently deep under cover so Sengoku very rarely got to talk to him. Garp felt for him, but Rosinante was a good marine despite his extreme clumsiness so the man would most certainly be alright, and after that Sengoku would just have even more bragging materiel.

 

When Sengoku saw Garp in the doorway of his office he must have realized that it wasn’t for something official so he put away his paperwork, closed the door and brought out the crackers.

“Sengoku, you know what’s happening in most of this blasted world, perhaps you could help me?”

“What’s happening?” Sengoku asked with a raised eyebrow, Garp rarely asked for help sounding so serious.

“It’s my grandson”

“Which one?”

“Luffy, the younger one, my idiot son’s son”, Sengoku seemed somewhat relived that it wasn’t about the son of the late Pirate King. “It’s not really about him, but his soulmate has some kind of really weird disease, the doctors have no idea what it is, and I haven’t been able to find anything about it either. He has these white patches that just keep growing. At first they didn’t really notice them, but they’ve gotten so big lately, and he says they hurt”, Garp didn’t notice Sengoku going quiet as he spoke. “I’m just curious about it, you know? If it’s curable or if I should prepare to explain to my grandson who’ve barely grasped the concept of soulmates that he’ll never get to meet his”, Garp quieted and looked up at Sengoku and the look on his friend’s face was like a punch.

“Garp, I’m so sorry”, Sengoku said in a low voice.

“What!” Garp exclaimed loudly. “What do you know?!”

“It sounds like amber lead poisoning, The White City, Flevance, in North Blue was completely wiped out with it, I didn’t think there were any survivors”, his face twisted in anger and disgust. “At least there shouldn’t have been any survivors, the World Government ordered a complete extermination of the country, they _knew_ it was poison, and not a disease, and they still slaughtered everyone”, his face was dark, and Garp felt himself start to boil in anger. He might be working for the World Government, and most of the time he enjoyed his work, but sometimes, when things like this, or with Ohara's extermination or the hunt for Ace, at those times he just wanted to go straight up to the Gorosei and destroy them.

“Luffy’s soulmate is still alive, so someone must have escaped. But I suppose it’s impossible to find one sick child somewhere in North Blue”, Garp said, somehow able to calm himself enough to continue the conversation.

“Yeah, but I’m afraid that from what I know, they’ll not make it for long. Amber lead poisoning got worse for every generation, and the younger they were the faster they died.” There was pity in Sengoku’s face, and Garp felt defeated. Why should his beautiful happy grandson have to suffer such a loss? It wasn’t fair, and even if he knew the world wasn’t fair, shouldn’t Luffy at least deserve better? Garp left the office quickly after that. He needed some time to process the information.

 

A big part of him didn’t want to believe that Luffy’s soulmate really did have amber lead poisoning. That perhaps it was something else that just looked the same, but he couldn’t find anything that even sounded similar, and Sengoku had recognized it immediately, so the chances of that was almost nonexistent. With this new information Garp kind of just wanted to go back to East Blue and be with his grandsons, perhaps he could introduce Ace and Luffy, and meeting Ace could help Luffy recover? It felt useless, a soulmate wasn’t really someone you got over, but at least now Garp was thankful that Luffy never met them. The pain would be much worse if he had, now it was at least just a nameless idea, rather than a beloved second half. However much he wanted to go back, it really wasn’t possible, he was a vice admiral after all, and even with all his sway he couldn’t justify leaving again when he just got back from vacation.

 

Without any choice but to stay, Garp threw himself into work, and he probably scared the life out of both young and old marines. Even some of the other vice admirals turned around or found excuses to leave when they happened upon him in his bad mood. It wasn’t even a month after that when Sengoku came into Garp’s office one day. He chased out anyone else in vicinity and then sank down on a chair with a heavy sigh. The look he gave Garp was defeated.

“I should most certainly not tell you this, but with the circumstances as they are I can’t _not_ tell you.” He scratched his head.

“What?” Garp asked, slightly worried about what made Sengoku act like this.

“I might know who the soulmate of your grandson is”

“WHAT!?” Garp repeated at a significantly higher volume.

“Please, Garp, be quiet, I only tell you this with the utmost trust, and you must promise not to do anything crazy or impulsive. The life of _my_ son is on the line”

“Okay, I promise not to do anything rash”, Garp said quickly.

“So Rosinante is on an undercover assignment, and in the latest report he gave me, he told about a boy who’d arrived to and wanted to join the gang he has infiltrated, and this boy has amber lead poisoning”, Garp didn’t know what to say. The coincidence was just too big to be believed. It might not even be the correct child, but at the same time there couldn’t have been that many survivors of the White City. After Sengoku told him Garp had read up on the event, and what horrible reading that was.

 

“What should we do?” Garp asked at last. Sengoku sighed.

“I don’t know, we can’t do anything to compromise Rosinante’s position, and the information I got on the boy was not good. The trauma he must have gone through have messed him up bad, he hates the world and everything in it. Rosinante is trying hard to get any children to leave that awful place, but he can’t do anything to rouse suspicion, and there’s some other children that he hasn’t gotten to leave either”, Garp groaned, it really was a difficult position.

“Couldn’t we get him out of there in some way without arousing suspicion?”

“Probably not, the leader has accepted him into the family now, so they wouldn’t just let him go, and he wanted to go there, he’s so full of pain and hate right now, I don’t think he’d even listen even if we tried. In addition to all that he has a deep distrust and hate for the government after everything they did to Flevance. Even if we did get him out, there’s no cure for amber lead poison”, Sengoku said with a defeated look.

“But there has to be something we can do!” Garp exclaimed.

“However hard it is, I don’t think we can do anything right now, we’ll just have to rely on Rosinante, I’ll tell him to keep an extra eye on the boy, but other than that we’ll just have to wait and see”

“But we’ll both try to look for a cure for amber lead”, Garp said with finality. That would be his condition for just waiting.

“Sure, but you can’t tell anyone, this is top secret”, Sengoku reminded.

“Of course.”

 

 

The next two years were hard, Luffy’s soulmate kept getting sicker, and he’d also started to get beat up regularly. It made Garp furious, how could they beat a child that much? He knew how injuries from training looked, but this was much more than what should ever be done. He’d complained extensively to Sengoku after his first visit back to Dawn Island when he’d gotten to spend some time with Luffy and see the injuries. He didn’t tell Luffy that he might know where his “mystery special person” might be, because it felt like too much to burden a six-year-old with the information that his soulmate would probably die before they could ever meet.

 

 

The next time he visited he got other problems, because apparently that bastard Red Hair Shanks had spent time in Foosha village and now Luffy had decided to become a pirate. With that bombshell, and the knowledge that the time Rosinante had given the soulmate was running out, Garp took Luffy to Dadan to meet Ace. His other grandson was a wild child and he didn’t really understand Luffy’s soul marks since he never seemed to get anything lasting from his own soulmate, but he wasn’t that much older than Luffy and hopefully they could become friends.

 

When he got back from that trip it was to be met with even more news. Rosinante had taken the child and left his assignment. Apparently, he had just decided one day that he would save him, and screw the consequences. And, well, Garp was kind of in favor of that.

 

 

Six months after that everything went to hell. The amber lead poisoning was really bad, Luffy had to be taken back to Foosha village so that the doctor could keep an eye on him, because even if he didn’t actually have the same disease as his soulmate, he still felt all the pain, and he had problems functioning as usual with it, despite his above normal pain tolerance. Then Rosinante called in with information on the Donquixote family, and really, he was under cover with his brother? The marines pulled together a big operation led by Tsuru, and Garp would have been happy for if not for the boys drastically worsening condition. The Flevance boy wouldn’t last much longer, and Luffy would lose his soulmate. In the middle of that mess, Garp got an urgent long-distance snail call from Foosha. Luffy had woken up crying and screaming, with mark after mark appearing. He had eventually fallen unconscious, but it was not good. Garp had barely finished listening to the call before he was running up the hallway to see Sengoku.

 

“It’s all gone wrong! Whatever the plan was, it must have failed, because that boy who’s with your son just got beat halfway to death, I spoke with the doctor in Foosha and he doesn’t even know if he’ll survive!” Sengoku turned white.

“Rosinante would never let that happen”, he said, and then he was also reaching for the snail and calling up Tsuru, to worried to really care about the consequences. After a hurried explanation to a woman they both trusted, they sat still for a few seconds before Garp looked at his old friend. He looked terrible.

“Sengoku, I’ll hold the fort, you go to North Blue to look after your son”, Sengoku looked like he might want to protest, but then he kind of collapsed in on himself and nodded thankfully. Garp slapped him on the back and the next minute Sengoku was getting ready to board a ship to North Blue. It would take some time to get there, but going through the Calm Belt still shortened the trip enough to make it worth it. Garp himself settled down for a long wait. It was horrible and excruciating, and he felt useless just sitting there, but this time it was all he could do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a short chapter, but I'll post the last one tomorrow! I hope you enjoy!

Rosinante was laying in the snow, body broken and bleeding. He had several gunshot wounds and way too many broken bones, but he could only think about Law. He had managed to give him the Ope Ope no Mi, but even after that success everything had kept going straight to hell. Of all the marines the boy could find, it had to be Doffy’s spy. Rosinante hadn’t even known that Vergo was part of the marines, and wasn’t it ironic, that he’d infiltrated the Donquixote family at the same time as they infiltrated the marines? He and Vergo had basically just switched places. That ignorance had led to this, and however much his body was hurting him, he wasn’t going to leave Law now. He needed Rosinante to get out of here, and out of here he would go. Rosinante would allow nothing else, so he forced himself to his feet, picked up Law and got going.

 

Confronting his brother was horrible, and his only comfort was that at least Law had a chance to survive. Ha was shot again, and really, this wasn’t fun anymore. His soulmate, whoever they were, must hate him right now. He couldn’t die while still lying to Law, so he told Doffy about being a marine, and somehow it was as if speaking about them summoned them. Rosinante really wasn’t conscious enough at this point to be aware of what was happening, but he could see Doffy leaving. Then it seemed like Tsuru came with some of her top officers, but that might have been a hallucination. At some point he imagined Law’s crying face, but after that everything got dark.

 

 

A beeping sound brought Rosinante back, and for a long time he was really confused, was he alive? He shouldn’t be, but he didn’t think death would include this much pain and annoying sounds. After a few more breaths, and breathing had to mean he was alive, he forced his eyes open. There was a white roof above him, and it told him nothing.

“Rosinante!”, a familiar voice pulled his attention to his side, and there sat his adoptive father. “I’m so glad you’re awake! You’ve been unconscious for a week already, I just got here two days ago”, the Fleet Admiral looked haggard, dark circles under his eyes and lines of worry etched into his face.

“L- Law?”, Rosinante managed to say and Sengoku nodded down at the bed beside him. Rosinante looked down and found the boy covered in bandages but sleeping soundly at his side.

“He refused to leave your side, frightened any nurse who tried, and before that he fought with Tsuru when she came to get you. You’re currently in a hospital in North Blue, we couldn’t risk moving you any further than necessary and the circumstances are quite”, he paused, looking for a word, “delicate.”

 

Sengoku helped him take a few sips of water from a glass and after that Rosinante could both think and talk better.

“What happened? How am I alive?”

“It’s a really weird story, and I suppose you could thank either Law or Garp”, Sengoku answered with a furrowed brow.

“How?”

“We think, or, well now it’s pretty much certain, this boy you’re taking care of, his name was Law, right? Well, he’s the soulmate of Garp’s grandson”, Rosinante just stared. “Garp has managed to keep him secret from the WG so far, since he’s Dragon’s son, and he lives in East Blue. It was the symptoms of amber lead poisoning that made us suspect, and when a lot of really bad marks appeared on him, we realized that something must have happened to you two. We contacted Tsuru and she managed to get on Minion Island in time. Her presence made Doflamigo leave in a rush, and they managed to get to you on time. They had just started to try and move you when the kid came running back. He must have slipped away from Doflamingo with the help of your ability, because no one could hear him, even as he was clinging to you and crying. So you’ve got a great grip on your fruit, everyone thought you were unconscious you still fought to keep him safe.” Rosinante looked down at the sleeping boy and carefully ran a hand through his hair.

“I love him like a son”, ha said and Sengoku’s gaze softened.

“It’s the reason you lied, right?” Rosinante nodded. “And I suppose you gave him the Ope Ope no Mi as well?” Another nod and Sengoku sighed.

“Well, people are not going to be happy about that, but you can at least expect to have Garp on your side. He is the most doting grandfather ever, and would do anything for those brats of his”, Rosinante smiled at that.

“Well that is some formidable back-up”, he said and now Sengoku chuckled.

“It sure is, son. It sure is”

 

Rosinante didn’t know if it was their conversation or something else, but Law woke up not long after that with a violent twitch of his body. Rosinante immediately patted his head and hushed.

“Law, Law it’s alright now! We’re safe!” He said with a smile. The boy looked up at him for a few seconds before he started crying.

“Stupid! Stupid Cora-san! You lied! You said you’d be alright, but you weren’t! Doflamingo almost killed you!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to worry”, Rosinante said with an apologetic smile.

“Of course I worried! I had to listen to you get shot!” Those words made Rosinante wince, that must have been horrible for the boy. He pulled him close in to a hug.

“Law, I’m so sorry for that, but more than I’m sorry I’m happy, because you’re safe now”, Law started crying even harder and now Rosinante couldn’t stop the tears either. He was just so relived, so thankful and so amazed. He kind of noticed Sengoku leaving the room, but he wasn’t really focused on that.

 

It took a while until they had both calmed down enough to have a conversation again.

“I’m really so sorry for lying Law, especially about being a marine, but I didn’t want you to hate me”, he said, regret softening his voice even more than the residue of tears.

“Stupid Cora-san, I knew that!”

“You did?” Rosinante asked, chocked.

“Yeah, it was pretty obvious, especially in the end. But I don’t care if it’s Cora-san”, Law said, and Rosinante had to hold in tears again. This child was amazing. “But I don’t like all these other marines running around”, Law added with derision. Rosinante laughed at that.

“I’m sorry about that, but I can’t do anything about that right now. Sengoku is my adoptive father, he took me in after Doffy killed our biological father”, it was Law’s turn to be shocked now, and Rosinante didn’t really know if it was because the Fleet Admiral was his father of that he told him about what Doffy had done.

“I still don’t want to stay with them”, Law said. “So what are we gonna do?” The we in the questing warmed Rosinante’s heart, the unquestioning trust this angry child had in the fact that they were going to stay together. They were, of course, Rosinante wasn’t going to let anything stop him from protecting this child now that he was given a second chance, but that Law thought the same thing was still lovely to hear.

“For the moment I’m going back to sleep, but after that we’ll come up with something. Sengoku might be Fleet Admiral, but he is my father”, Law just hummed at that, and Rosinante stopped fighting the sleep who’d clawed at the edge of his mind ever since he woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I originally planned to be the last chapter, but I have now realized that I need another part, unfortunately I haven't written that yet and I'm kind of overwhelmed by law school right now, but I promise I'll try to write it sometime in December! 
> 
> Also, this is a completely different AU from Your Pain on My Skin, so would you want something more in this AU that's going to end up far away from canon since I'm changing things early, or more stories set in the manga canon? I'm open to any ideas you might have, leave a comment here or find me on tumblr with the same name :)

“I don’t know what to do with them”, the snail did a god impression of Sengoku’s tired face and Garp hummed to let his friend know he was listening carefully. “The kid refuses to stay with marines, and Rosinante just humors him, and in addition to all that I still haven’t even started to try and explain what happened to the Ope Ope no Mi. People are going to start looking, and then they’ll want to keep the kid on a leash to get their hands on his ability. And if I’ve learn something during the few times I’ve talked to him, it’s that kid will not sit still and let himself be controlled or imprisoned”, Sengoku sighed, and the snail’s small face scrounged up in imitation of the Fleet Admiral’s annoyance at the entire situation.

“What if you sent them away? How many know where you are anyway? Here everyone thinks you’re on vacation, and Tsuru can be trusted, she’s too thankful for Rosinante’s info to really care anyway, even if she missed Doflamingo this time she now has a much better chance of tracking him down, and no one else knew what happened, right? Just play up Rosinante’s injuries, say he needed some time off to heal, or if that won’t work, say he died or just ran of with the child, whatever you think might work best”, Garp said calmly.

“And then what?” Sengoku asked, annoyed with the logic behind the frankly crazy ideas.

“Then you send them to East Blue”, Garp answered as if it was obvious, and well, for him it kind of was. The child had suffered enough, and who was better to bring some light into his world than Luffy? In addition to the psychological effect, the boys would be natural pain relief for each other, which Garp kind of felt they deserved after everything that had happened.

“I’ll talk to them”, Sengoku said with a sigh.

 

Not even three days later Sengoku was on his way back to HQ while Rosinante and Law were on their way to East Blue in secret. Garp had really wanted to go with them, but right now everything was to sensitive. The official story they had ended up with was that an unknown third party had managed to snatch the Ope Ope no Mi from both marines and the Donquixote family, it might look bad for the marines, but it was better than people going after Law. Rosinante was said to have been seriously hurt and that he’d taken a lot of time off to cope with everything that had happened. Garp had spoken with both the Mayor of Foosha village and with Dadan and told them that a friend of his was coming to stay there for a while along with a child that most certainly was Luffy’s soulmate. They hadn’t told Luffy yet, and the child had apparently returned to running around the forest with Ace as soon as he could move again.

 

Rosinante and Law had a long journey ahead of them, since they couldn’t really take a marine ship, but Garp didn’t worry. However clumsy Rosinante was, he had survived years in a vicious crime family. Therefore, he was very confused when the man called him one afternoon.

“Did you call the wrong number?” He asked. “Sengoku’s has a zero at the end”

“No, Garp, I was trying to reach you. It’s your grandson, right? Law’s soulmate?” Now Garp was alert, what had happened to Luffy?

“Yes”, he answered carefully.

“Well, I don’t want to worry you, but something has most certainly happened to him. We’re used to the normal scrapes and scraps, never bruises but other injuries that aren’t that hard to imagine a wild child could get, but today it’s different”, he sounded worried, and that made Garp worried as well. “It almost looks like someone’s hitting him with spikes of some kind”,

“Thanks for telling me”, Garp said and prepared to hang up so that he could give Dadan a very worried call.

“Yeah, well, you and that child did kind of save my life, so this is the least I can do. And I’d have done it either way, it’s Law after all”, Garp smiled as he hung up, he knew how the new father felt.

 

Despite calling Dadan, she couldn’t really do anything. Luffy was out with Ace, and it was a big mountain. Despite that she promised to go look for them and call Garp when she knew more. Once again Garp was left waiting, unable to do anything to help. It really sucked being stuck at headquarters. Thankfully Dadan called him up again a few hours later. Ace and Luffy had come home with a third brat and they were all banged up but okay.

“How many of these brats am I going to end up with?” She said to Garp. “And you’re sending me forth one as well!? I’m not running a daycare you know!”

“Thank you for your hard work!” Garp answered, ignoring any complaints and hanging up. It would all be fine. Rosinante would arrive at Dawn Island in a few months and after that he could keep an eye on the boys, it would be good for all of them to have a marine there to steer them onto the right path again. Perhaps he could get them to forget their stupid pirate dreams and go straight again? Yeah, thinks were finally calming down and looking up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Call me Usopp because I'm a liar. There'll be another chapter after this. At least I managed to post this in December, and the next chapter (from Law's POV) is mostly written, but I can't get the end to work with me so I don't know when that'll be up. I'll try to get it done as soon as possible, since it's almost done. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and happy new year!

It had been more than three months since the fiasco on Minion island and Rocinante was very relieved to have finally reached East Blue. At first it had sounded like such a good idea to escape too the weakest Blue where Doffy wouldn’t look for them, but the trip there had been way more that what he’d really been ready for. Rocinante had been with the marines for such a long time that he’d almost forgot how hard it was for normal people to come and go from the Blues. At least they got help from Sengoku and Garp, otherwise it would have been impossible.

 

In the end it didn’t matter if the trip took time, they would get there eventually, and the time seemed to really make a difference for Law. In the hospital he’d mostly just clung to Rocinante, but now, when he’d gotten rid of the amber lead poisoning and they had both healed from their injuries he was starting to open up more. He was still angry at most of the world, but it felt like he was starting to loosen up a little after every day that nothing bad happened. That progress hit a snag when Law’s soulmate got into trouble, and after Rocinante had spoken to Garp about it and it finally appeared that the danger was over he had sat Law down to really talk it through. It was a hard conversation, and Rocinante hated to see Law seem so small again.

 

“He’ll hate me, do we have to go there?” He mumbled when Rocinante had explained where they were going and how it all linked together from Sengoku to Garp and his grandson.

“Oh Law. He won’t hate you, why would he?” He asked, pulling the young teen into a hug.

“Because of everything I put him through! He had to suffer through amber lead poisoning and Vergo and-”, he sniffled again and Rocinante heart ached.

“That’s a part of soulmates, you suffer together, and when you meet you heal together. I’ve never met my soulmate and they’ve sure got to suffer a lot because of me, but I’ve also felt their pain. It’s a two-way connection, right now you’re covered in his marks, do you hate him for them?”

“No”, Law answered and poked one of the marks on his arms. They weren’t worse than the ones from minion island, but it was the first time his soulmate had gotten seriously hurt. Rocinante had seen a few marks that might have been soul marks, but with amber lead and their dangerous life they’d never talked about it.

 

“What do you know about soulmates?” Rocinante asked after a short silence in which Law examined his marks.

“You feel each other’s pain, and the soul marks represent the physical injuries on the other but if you touch skin to skin the pain disappears. If one of the soulmates die the other will forever be left with the marks they died from.” Law rattled of the answer in the same way he talked about medical knowledge, but then he paused for a second before continuing in a softer voice. “Soulmates are meant to be together, they’re each other’s perfect match”, Rocinante smiled.

“Yes, but just because you’re someone’s soulmate it doesn’t mean that you must be together, people always have choices. It doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship either, a lot of them are but there’s no obligation for it.” It felt a bit weird to explain soulmates when he’d never even met his own, but he didn’t want Law to worry, and since he was already nervous about meeting this boy Rocinante wanted to try and calm him as much as possible. “And you’re both children, so just try and see if you can become friends.”

“Hmm, yeah”, Law muttered, apparently done with the conversation so Rocinante left him to his thoughts. There would be time before they arrived, and Law tended to work things out on his own if given time. He had after all figured out how to cure himself with a completely new devil fruit, so the boy was nothing less than a genius.

 

They had travelled in the relatively calm waters of East Blue for a few weeks and the weather was lovely. It was definitely warmer here than in North Blue. A shout from Law had Rocinante snagging his foot on a rope and falling forward.

“Did you say you saw land?” He asked as he pulled himself up from where he’d faceplanted.

“How can you fall over when we’ve been in this boat for weeks?!” Law exclaimed, laughing at him but also used to Rocinante’s unfavourable relationship with gravity. And fire.

“The floor is uneven, and you shocked me when screaming about seeing land”, he muttered, glad that he hadn’t had time to light his cigarette before he fell. Because however much he hated to admit it, he’d probably be on fire as well if he had.

“Yeah, yeah, sure thing”, Law said. “But we’re closing in to that island now. Is that’s where we’ll stay?” Rocinante accepted the spyglass and looked at the island on the horizon before turning to the map again.

“Yep! That has to be Dawn Island!”

 

They arrived at a small village full of windmills and as they secured the boat a woman came walking up to them. Law glared at her, still distrusting of everyone he didn’t know but Rocinante straightened up, someone who knew they were coming was supposed meet them, but Garp hadn’t really been forthcoming with details. The woman glanced over them, smiling pleasantly.

“Welcome to Foosha village! I’m Makino, are you Rocinante?” She asked.

“Yes, did Garp send you?” Rocinante answered. He was pretty sure that he had, but it never hurt to be careful.

“Yes, he never really gives details, but he said that a man named Rocinante would come here with his son and help take care of his grandsons”, it had to be the right place then.

“Then we must be right, I’m Rocinante, as you know, and this is Law”, Law just gave a half-hearted wave, no longer glaring but still suspicious. He also seemed a bit shocked at being referred to as Rocinante’s son, which Rocinante could understand because they never really talked about that.

“Brilliant! I’ll show you the way, I own the pub in the town and helped to take care of Luffy for a while, but now he lives up with Dadan. I think Garp thought it would be good for him to meet other children, but I’m not really sure as to why he thought living with mountain bandits would be better than making friends with Shanks”, Makino chatted pleasantly but Rocinante was reeling slightly at the information. Did Garp’s grandchildren live with mountain bandits? And apparently knew a Shanks? She didn’t mean the Emperor, right? That they then apparently had to make their way up a long mountain path was also unexpected.

 

Law stayed close to Rocinante, but he was watching the vegetation around them with big eyes. The forest got wilder and wilder as they made their way up the mountain, but the young woman who led them seemed to know where she was going.

“I haven’t actually been up here a lot, but since this path doesn’t have traps it’s not that bad”, commented and Rocinante grew even more confused.

“Are there a lot of traps?” He asked carefully.

“Yeah, I think so, I don’t really go where they are but from what I’ve gathered Ace and Sabo are really good at setting them up”, she smiled at them again, but when she turned around Rocinante shared a confused look with Law.

 

The path finally opened up to a clearing and a big house with a look-out tower in the middle. As they approached a woman with long red curly hair stepped out and glared at them.

“So you’re the ones Garp sent me? I’ve told him that I don’t run a day-care, but he doesn’t seem to understand.”

“Eh, hello, I’m Rocinante and this is Law”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m Dadan, welcome and whatever. The brats are out in the forest, but they’ll probably be back soon. I suppose you can do something useful? This is not a hotel and you’ll have to help if you wan to live here”, Rocinante was getting more and more confused as to why Garp had thought it was a good idea to send them to this woman. She didn’t seem to want them there and made no secret of it. Why was she even the guardian of Garp’s grandchildren when there appeared to be perfectly normal people down in the village who was probably a lot more suited for taking care of children?

 

“You’re gonna lose Luffy!”

“Yeah hurry up!”

“NO! You cheated!!” Three voices reached the clearing long before they could se anyone, but then the thick foliage of the forest seemingly exploded outwards and two boys came barrelling through, wide smiles and steel pipes in their hands. When they saw Rocinante and Law standing there they both slammed to an abrupt halt.

“Who the hell are you?!” The dark haired one said with a frankly impressive glare. Before Law had time to answer a third boy barrelled in to the first two, knocking all three of them to the ground.

“I caught up!” He exclaimed with a wide grin as he literally bounced up to his feet again, leaving the others pressed into the ground. Then his gaze shifted to the others, but unlike the other two it didn’t affect his smile.

“Makino! Hello! And who are you?” He asked Rocinante and Law. “My name is Monkey D. Luffy and I’m going to be the Pirate King!” A D, huh? Figures, if he was Garp’s grandson and Law’s soulmate.

“Nice to meet you Luffy, I’m Rocinante and this is Trafalgar Law, your grandfather told us we could come and live here”, Law was still staring at the boys, but his trepidation had changed a bit to curiosity.

“What? Why did shitty Gramps send you here?” The angry freckly boy from before was up again and still glaring.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sabo and this is Ace”, the blond beside him said before he forced Ace down into a bow alongside himself.

“They’re my brothers!” Luffy said, and he sounded so unbelievably proud of the fact that Rocinante had to smile.

 

“Luffy, why don’t you and your brothers show Law around?” Makino said with a smile. Rocinante looked down at Law, it would be good for him but at the same time he didn’t want to force him into something he didn’t want to do. Fortunately Law seemed intrigued enough to go with it, because he left Rocinante’s side and walked up to the boys. They were almost the same height, despite Law being the oldest, but Rocinante guessed that it would change soon, because Law had already started to grow since he got rid of the poison. Ace seemed to have perfected a glare almost as potent as Law’s own, though it’s impact was somewhat lessened by the smile on Luffy’s face and the wary curiosity on Sabo’s.

 

“So how come Garp sent you here?” Dadan said, distracting Rocinante from the boys.

“We needed a place to lay low, he’s friend with my father and suggested Law and I go here. I’m terribly sorry if it’s an imposition, I’m sure we can find someplace else to stay if it’s to much?”

“No, it’s all right. I guess Garp sent you here for a reason, and he must trust you a lot too. The man might be crazy, but he cares a hell of a lot for those boys, and is ready to protect them from the world when he has to”, she sounded tired, and much fonder of the children than she had originally implied. He wanted to ask about it, because there was obviously some reason behind them living on the mountain, but it wasn’t really his place to ask, especially since they were still strangers. If they stayed they would probably find out eventually, and that would have to be enough for the moment.

“Cora-san! I’m going with them to see the jungle!” Law called out and Rocinante turned to the boy, shocked that he would leave with them so soon after meeting. He didn’t have time to ask because the next second all four of them was on their way back through the forest.

“There they go again, those boys do little else but run around and cause chaos for everyone”, Dadan sighed but Makino just laughed.

“I think it’s nice that they have so much energy! And to see Luffy better is always a joy”, she said and Rocinante wondered how Law’s illness had impacted the boy. At least now you couldn’t see any hints of it putting him down. He seemed like a very happy child and Rocinante hoped that he could influence Law with some of that happiness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter didn't want to work with me, but now I'm tired of staring at it so you'll get it as it is. The end was especially hard and I didn't have it in me to write more right now, but if you want to I can perhaps write more in the future. I hope you enjoy this anyway, and at least it's longer than any previous chapters!  
> Happy reading and thanks for staying until the end! <3

Cora-san gone to talk with the other adults and Law was faced with three strange children. They all appeared to be younger than him and showed very different emotions. Luffy seemed extremely excited to see him, something Law couldn’t really understand because they were complete strangers. Even if this boy knew they were soulmates he shouldn’t be that happy. The other two boys’ reactions he could understand somewhat better, especially Ace because his glare felt really familiar.

“So what’s your deal? Why did Gramps dump you here?” The freckled boy asked with distrust in his eyes. Law didn’t want to give his life story to these strangers, but he also felt like Ace would only accept an honest answer.

“Someone tied to kill us, and since Cora-san’s dad is friends with Garp he said we could come here”, their eyes widened at that.

“Huh, so you really fit in here then”, Sabo muttered and Ace made an annoyed noise but didn’t comment.

“Why did they want to kill you?” Luffy asked, confused. Law opened his mouth to answer but Ace cut in before him with a blow with his pipe on Luffy’s head.

“You can’t ask that, idiot!” Law was kind of shocked at the violence, expecting to feel it himself as well, but the blow just bounced off.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever”, Luffy muttered before turning back to Law, his smile back at full force. “How old are you? I’m seven, almost eight!”

“I’m thirteen”

“Cool! Then you’re older than Ace and Sabo as well! They’re ten!” Where did he get his enthusiasm from?

“Do you want to come and see out fort? We’re going to be pirates when we’re older, I’m going to be the Pirate King!”

“Sure..?” Law answered, not really sure what to do with this much energy, but the boys seemed pretty harmless and Cora-san had told him to get to know them.

“Tsk, whatever, but you’ll have to keep up!” Ace said. Sabo gave him a smile before turning around and following his brother into the forest. Luffy reached out to presumably grab Law but he stepped out of the way. Luffy looked at him for a second before shrugging and waving him along.

 

The run through the forest was rough, Law hadn’t gotten his stamina back since being sick and Ace and Sabo really didn’t slow down for him. Luffy on the other hand seemed perfectly comfortable with keeping his slower pace and talking his ear of the entire time. Law had asked a question about the obviously well-loved hat and then he was awarded with a long and very excited retelling of Shanks staying in the village.

 

”And then Shanks gave this really scary glare and it just turned around and left! It was so cool!” He bounced all over the path and made big gestures to accompany the story, but Law still listened, because it really was quite a good story.

”And then he gave you the hat?” He asked.

”Yep! I’m supposed to give it back when I’m as good a pirate as him!”

”Cool. But if your grandpa is Garp the Hero, doesn’t he want you to become a marine?” Law asked, actually curious about that because even if he’d been very clear on the fact that he never wanted to work for the world government Sengoku had still hinted at the possibility of becoming a marine, and he and Garp were apparently very close.

”Bah! Gramps can say what he wants, I’m gonna be a pirate anyway! Ace and Sabo too!”

”Okay, I might become one as well”, Law said, because he couldn’t deny that the thought was tempting. And if he wanted to take down Doflamingo sometime in the future he had to get really strong first.

”Oh! Then you can be on my crew!” Luffy said excitedly.

”Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I’m older so you should be on my crew!” Law exclaimed.

”Nah, if I’m gonna be the pirate king I have to be the captain”, Luffy said in a way that implied it was obvious and anyone that didn’t understand was stupid. Law snorted.

”Whatever, I’m gonna become a doctor first anyway”

”Cool!”

 

Law was amazed at how easy it was to talk to this child. He was a bit of an idiot, but he was kind and determined and enthusiastic. He didn’t care if Law got annoyed and snapped at him, and he talked so much that it didn’t really matter that Law didn’t say much himself. Soon Law knew all about how he’d followed Ace and Sabo around through the jungle for months.

”Then my mystery special person got very ill so I had to go back to Foosha for a while, but they’re all better now, so I’m really happy for them!”

”Your what now?” Law asked, he’d followed the story so far, but he hadn’t heard that description before.

”My mystery special person, Makino explained it too me because they were always ill and someone hurt them, but now they’re better!”

”Do you mean your soulmate?” Law asked, and it was awkward talking about it when he knew and Luffy didn’t.

”Yeah, whatever. They’re someone special but since you don’t know who they are they’re a mystery person!”

”Do you want to meet them?” Law carefully asked.

”Yeah of course! I’m sure they’re awesome!”

”You don’t hate them for hurting you so much?” The question slipped out before Law could stop himself and he immediately regretted it. He didn’t want to know if Luffy did hate him.

”What? Why would I do that! Someone hurt them so I’m gonna beat up whoever did it! My punch is as strong as a pistol and I’ll punch everyone who hurt them!” Law just stared as Luffy pulled back his arm to show off his pistol punch. His arm stretched out and bounced off the tree he’d supposedly been aiming for and hit both him and Law and threw them to the ground.

 

Luffy just laughed at his obviously failed attempt and Law grumbled and started to pull himself up on his feet again.

”I think you need some practice before you go beat up crime lords”, Law muttered as he brushed dirt of his clothes.

”Huh? What crime lords?” Luffy asked and Law froze at the realisation of his slip up.

”Nothing, Luffy-ya”, he quickly said, he didn’t know if he was ready to tell Luffy, and it definitely wasn’t the time to talk about Doflamingo.

”Really?” Luffy asked and Law desperately thought of a way to change the subject.

”What was that with your arm earlier?” He eventually managed to ask and sighed in relief when Luffy accepted the change of subject.

”I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi!” Luffy said proudly. ”I’m a rubber man!” Then he gripped his cheeks in one hand each and pulled them out as far as his short arms could reach.

”What kind of weird power is that?” Law asked, he’d thought Cora-san’s devil fruit was weird but that had at least helped them at Minion island.

”I’ll make it into an awesome power! As soon as I learn to aim my punches you’ll see! It’s also really good because other people punching me doesn’t hurt”, he paused for a few second before pouting. ”Except for Gramps, he makes it hurt anyway”, Law wasn’t sure what to say about that, but he got a strong impulse to show off his own devil fruit. He hadn’t really learnt how it worked outside of what he’d used it for to cure the amber lead poisoning, but he could do some stuff.

 

”Then look at this! Room” He said and activated the weird sphere that he needed to do anything.

”Woah? What’s this?” Luffy asked and Law smirked, it really wasn’t bigger than a couple of meters in diameter but it enclosed both him and Luffy so it was enough.

”Shambles”, in the blink of an eye he had Luffy’s straw hat and Luffy had his white fuzzy hat on his head.

”COOL!” Luffy screamed, talking of Law’s hat to examine it before switching back to his own again. ”How did you do it?”

”It’s my devil fruit, the Ope Ope no Mi”, he said. ”I don’t really know how to use it properly yet, but switching stuff is quite useful when Cora-san keeps dropping stuff”, almost for the first time Law felt proud of his devil fruit. Cora-san had risked his life for it just too heal Law, and he’d hated it because of everything that had happened on Minion island, but now he felt more like a kid showing of too friends than he had since Fl-, since before.

”That’s much cooler than mine, unfair!” Luffy said and Law surprised himself once again by laughing. He hadn’t laughed at anything other than Cora-san for so long that it felt foreign to do it now. Then he realised what he’d done and abruptly stopped.

 

They were supposed to stay in hiding. No one knew who’d taken the Ope Ope no Mi but if it came out that some kid had it it would be obvious what had happened and Cora-san would be in danger. Law had put them in even more danger just because he’d wanted to show of in front of a new friend. He felt sick.

”Torao? Are you alright?” Luffy asked, confused as to why Law had stopped so suddenly.

”I- I shouldn’t have told you that”, he muttered and pulled on his hat to hide his eyes.

”Why?” Luffy sounded so curiously innocent, and Law didn’t understand it.

”Someone wants it, and if he knew I have it he would come after me and Cora-san again”, Law muttered.

”So? I won’t tell anyone. Ace hates his dad and a lot of stupid people hate him as well so we just don’t tell anyone about it. I promise I won’t tell anyone about you either!”, his words slowly made their way through Law’s mind and he was pulled back to himself as he tried to focus on something else.

”Why does Ace hate his dad?”

”He was the Pirate King”

”What!?” Law exclaimed.

”Oh”, now it was Luffy’s turn to pause. ”I wasn’t supposed to tell you that either, Ace hates to talk about it. But perhaps it was better if I told you than if you asked him, because then he’d definitely punch you. So don’t talk about it”, Luffy nodded to himself, as if happy with how he’d finished the conversation. Law was still feeling at the information, very confused as to why the Pirate King’s son was Garp’s grandson but also understanding why they lived up on the mountain instead of in the village. In the end he decided to just let it go, Luffy hadn’t pried about his life so he wouldn’t pry about him or his brothers.

”Okay. I promise I wont talk about that if you promise not tell anyone about my devil fruit”, he said at last and Luffy gave him that wide smile again.

”Absolutely!” Luffy said with a big smile and Law couldn’t help but smile back, but something from the conversation came back and he furrowed his brow in confusion.

 

“What did you just call me?”

“Huh?” Luffy said, turning towards Law again. “Oh, Torao!”

“What? Why?! My names Trafalgar Law!”

“Yeah, Torao”

“No, it’s Tra-fal-gar”, Law repeated, saying his name slowly. “Besides you can just say Law anyway”, he then added, because it was weird for Luffy to use his last name.

“But I like Torao! Your hat looks like a tiger as well so it fits!” Law just stared at him for a few seconds before the flaw in that sentence caught up to him.

“No it doesn’t! Tigers have stripes!”

“Eh, oh, right. Whatever, you’re Torao now!” Then he looked at the jungle around them and his smile got even wider. ”We’re almost there now!” Law just sighed, it didn’t appear to be possible to reason with Luffy.

 

Law didn’t know what he’d been expecting but this definitely wasn’t it. The treehouse was carefully built and the perfect size for the ones occupying it.

”What took you two so long?!” Sabo shouted as Law followed Luffy up the tree.

”Yeah, you’re even slower than Luffy!” Ace added as Law got up to the others.

”We talked!” Luffy said, completely unconcerned with the implied teasing.

”I was sick for a while so I lost my stamina, soon I’ll be faster than all of you!” Law said defensively, because he hadn’t missed Ace’s tone. It didn’t matter who his dad might have been, if Law was staying here he wouldn’t take any of attitude.

”Bah! As if!” Ace answered, but both Luffy and Sabo laughed.

”We’ll believe it when we see it!” Sabo added when he’d stopped laughing. Law made an annoyed sound and turned around from them, but Luffy was soon there beside him again, ready to show of everything the treehouse had to offer. His brothers soon joined in on the tour, and Ace got less and less antagonistic as time passed. In the end all four of them stood watching the incredible view from the top, just under the ASL pirate flag with the forest all around them and the sea visible in the distance.

 

They got back to the big house in the clearing before it got dark and Law immediately went straight to Cora-san. It had been weird being away from him when they’d spent every minute with each other for such a long time, but it had been nice getting to know Luffy and his brothers as well. On their way back Sabo and Ace had stayed with them so Law got a front seat view of them beating up some crocodiles and then dragging them back home for dinner.

”Did you have fun?” Cora-san asked as Law sat down beside him in front of the big campfire the bandits had started as the boys had gotten back with something to cook.

”I-”, Law paused and thought over the question, it should be a perfectly normal thing to ask, but his life had been so fucked up for so long that it somehow was a special event to hang out with other people around his age. He supposed Baby 5 and Buffalo had also been children, but they were with the Donquixote family and it really wasn’t the same. ”It was great. They’re all crazy but so honest and genuinely kind. Luffy said he’d beat up whoever hurt his soulmate”, his voice turned amazed at the end and going by Cora-san’s gaze he noticed it too.

”I’m glad. Did you tell him?”

”No!” Law exclaimed and looked around them for eavesdroppers, but everyone was distracted by the fire and the food. ”I know I can’t keep hiding it for long, I mean like they run around it won’t be long until one of us gets hurt and it’s obvious but I just want to keep it for myself for a while longer. I mean, he’s so young, and so happy!” His confusion broke through on the last word and his voice jumped with it, but before Cora-san could answer Luffy came bouncing up to them.

 

”Hello! You said your name was Rocinante but Torao called you Cora-san, is Rocinante your surname?” Luffy said, smile on his face and meat in his hands.

”My name’s Rocinante, but who’s Torao?” He asked as Luffy sat down beside them.  

”Torao’s Torao”, Luffy answered and took a huge bite out of his meat.

”That’s me” Law said.

”Huh”, Cora-san looked thoughtful for a second before smiling as well and Law just shrugged. It was kind of nice to get a nickname, to have a name completely free from anything Doflamingo had called him.

”You should probably get something to eat before its gone”, Luffy added between his chewing and Law looked over at the fire, because how could they possibly finish those huge crocs? But it seemed Luffy was right because there was already a big pile of bones growing alarmingly fast beside the fire.

”I’ll go and get us some”, Cora-san said and got up. He made it less than three steps before tripping on something on the ground and consequently knocking someone’s drink all over them. Both Law and Luffy burst out laughing as the unfortunate bandit screamed at him and Cora-san awkwardly apologised.

 

”Is he your dad?” Luffy asked when they’d quieted down and Cora-san had gotten away from the very angry bandit. Law didn’t know what to answer, he’d had a father and to claim someone else for that position felt like betrayal of his memory, but at the same time Cora-san really had been like a father too him during the last year, and it was probably was the best description of their relationship.

”I don’t know”, he said at last. ”He’s not my biological father but he has taken care of me for a while now. He almost died to save me.”

”Hmm. I don’t have a father, but that sounds like something family would do”, Luffy said and Law was struck by the simplicity and the honest truth in his answer.

”Where’s your dad then?” He asked, because he wanted to steer the conversation away from himself and because Luffy didn’t seem like he would be offended by much. He was also genuinely curious about Luffy’s father, if he was Garp’s son shouldn’t he be around? Or was Garp Luffy’s maternal grandfather? But where was his mother then?

”As I said, I don’t have one. It’s always been Gramps or the people in Foosha talking care of me”, Luffy said, not annoyed but perhaps a bit perplexed as to why Law made him repeat himself.

”Huh”, Law said, it hadn’t really given him any answers but he didn’t want to pry more so he just let the conversation die as Cora-san came back with food for them.

 

When it was finally time to sleep Law found himself utterly exhausted. He’d been running in the jungle, but what had taken the most energy was meeting and talking to so many new people. He’d been on edge with all the bandits, because even if he’d gotten to know Luffy, Ace and Sabo most of the others were still strangers. Since he didn’t know them he didn’t trust them, but during the evening he’d realized that they really didn’t care about either Cora-san or him. They just accepted that they were there, welcomed them into their own chaotic life but didn’t ask about why they were there or pry for details about them. It seemed they all accepted it as another one of Garp’s whims and left it at that, and Law was so relived. Luffy tried to get Law too sleep with him, Ace and Sabo but in the end Law still fell asleep beside Cora-san, where he felt the most safe.

 

The next couple of days went pretty much the same, Law spent time with the other boys and Cora-san seemed to find things to do as well, after a bit of trial and error. The first morning he’d tried helping out with breakfast but when he’d almost burnt down the kitchen he’d been promptly banned from that activity.

 

Law learnt that Ace might be grumpy, but he was also extremely protective of his brothers and monstrously strong for his age. Sabo seemed to have the most education and sometimes he slipped into manners that hinted at him not actually having grown up alone or with bandits, but if he really was from nobility Law couldn’t fault him for leaving so he didn’t ask about it. Luffy kept up his constant sunshine personality accompanied by a sense of chaos and determination. Law really needed to speak to him, but he didn’t know how to start. It was only through sheer dumb luck that he hadn’t caught on to them being soulmates yet, but all it would take was one injury or for someone to look to close on Law’s scars for everything to come out. It was also getting hard for Law to keep Luffy outside of his personal space, because while short touches when they didn’t really have any injuries wasn’t enough to give him away, it would be incredibly obvious if they were in contact for longer than a few seconds. And since Luffy was the kind of person who clung to his friends and family, it was only a question of time before he completely disregarded Law’s attempted boundaries.

 

A part of Law wanted to just ignore it for as long as possible, to not say anything and not have to worry about any changes it would bring, but at the same time he _liked_ Luffy. He didn’t want to continue keeping secrets from him, especially one this big that concerned the both of them. Cora-san didn’t push him one way or the other, but it was obvious that he was waiting for it, if his expectant expressions were anything to go by. On the third day after arriving Law decided that he couldn’t keep waiting, so when they got up to go on their usual adventures in the morning Law told Ace and Sabo to go on ahead and asked Luffy to go with him to the brothers’ fort.

”Sure”, Luffy said with a shrug but all three of them looked at him like he was a bit weird.

”Thanks, Luffy-ya”

 

They climbed up to the top and sat next to each other under the clear blue sky. Law’s heart was beating fast, both in trepidation and excitement.

”So, what did you want to talk about?” Luffy asked. Law swallowed and picked a bit on the edge of his shirt before he looked up too meet Luffy’s eyes.

”I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I was nervous and I didn’t know what you would think, but we-”, he trailed of, unsure of how he should continue. Luffy didn’t say anything, just watched Law in silence with his head tilted to the side. Law opened and closer his mouth a couple of times before he got an idea.

 

”Just look”, he said and pushed up the long sleeve of his shirt, then he put his arm, palm up, in his lap and pinched the skin hard. It hurt, and as Luffy’s eyes widened Law reached forward put his hand on Luffy’s bare arm. The pain immediately went away. Luffy’s mouth fell open in shock and Law pulled back his hand to curl up around himself.

“You’re my mystery special person?” Luffy asked, voice almost breathless.

“Yeah, I suppose so. I think Garp figured it out because you got amber lead poisoning from me, and then-”, he was interrupted by a small rubber body slamming into his own. Two thin arms wound themselves several times around him and just like before the barely-there pain from the pinch went away.

”I’m so happy you’re here now!” Luffy said and pressed his cheek against Law’s.

 

”I’m so sorry you had to go through everything because of me”, Law said, pulling on his hat to hide his face.

”Stupid Torao, you don’t have to apologise for that” Luffy said, still clinging to Law. ”You’re my special person! But who hurt you?” Luffy’s voice went from relaxed and caring to cold and hard with anger in a second. It was strange to see someone so young and usually so happy go so serious, and it threw Law off.

”I don’t really want to talk about it yet”, Law said, because how could he explain Doflamingo? Or Flevance? It felt like too much to even start thinking about.

”Okay”, Luffy said, and Law was once again thankful for how easy he took things. ”What matters is that you’re safe now, and then when I’m stronger I’ll definitely beat the ones who hurt you”, he said such big things so easily and Law could only sit back and be amazed.

”Thank you”, Law said quietly and Luffy just laughed and hugged him tighter and as they sat there under the open sly Law felt the tension draining away little by little. He’d told Luffy and it was alright, Luffy hadn’t blamed him for anything and he didn’t expect anything of Law. He just accepted him, hugged him and smiled. Law felt tears threatening to push their way out, so he buried his face in Luffy’s neck and breathed. It would be alright now.


End file.
